APPLE VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 196 14450 HAYES ROAD APPLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA 55124-6797 952-431-8200 FAX: 952-431-8282 ms NA fen caries STEPHEN DEGENAAR, PRINCIPAL August 22, 2014 pple Valley High School RE: _ Notice of Deficiency and Sweponsion Dear] This letter constitutes a formal notice of deficiency. It sets forth specific deficiencies in your conduct and performance that require your immediate attention and correction and contains directives that you are expected to comply with to remedy your deficiency. FACTS On 10/4/2010 you were notified of your placement on Intensive Assistance for the duration of the school year (2010-2011) and cited performance deficiencies were noted. Performance improvement expectations were also provided, along with suggested plan(s) and timeline(s) for their accomplishment. At the end of the 2010-2011 school year you met with the Special Education Coordinator, Assistant Principal, and Peer Leader to define the word “done”. “You had indicated that all re-evaluation reports and IEPs were “done” yet nothing had been forwarded to the child study secretary for input into the iPlan system. Nothing had been sent home to families and the completed documents were not placed in each student’s child study file. You had been defining the word “done” to mean that the students had been tested and the related sections of the special education documents were on the desktop of your work computer. During the 2011-2012 school year you remained on intensive assistance. On 3/13/2012 you were given a Letter of Deficiency regarding your conduct and performance for your failure to make acceptable progress towards your goal of completing special education paperwork within the required timelines as outlined in your Intensive Assistance Plan, ‘You remained on intensive assistance for the 2012-2013 school year. On 9/4/2013 the Special Education Coordinator contacted you to schedule a meeting to review any questions you had about the letter you were given on June 7", 2013 reviewing your continued Intensive Assistance goals. we met on 9/11/13 because you had not signed the letter and you had not contacted the Special Education Coordinator or the Assistant Principal during the summer. On 9/19/13 you informed the Special Education Coordinator that your family and children took precedence over the summer, which is why you did not follow through with any questions and you did not sign the letter. Educating our students to reach their full potentialOn 10/14/13 you signed the letter reviewing your continued Intensive Assistance goals for the 2013-2014 school rear, The letter outlined that your system for maintaining timelines for required due process paperwork continued to only be partially effective. Following is a summary of the timelines that were not met during the 2012-13 school year. One re-evaluation was eleven days late. One re-evaluation was one day late to the child study secretary, ‘Two Prior Written Notices for IEPs were three days late. One Prior Written Notice for an IEP was four days late. On 4/23/14, 4/30/14, and 5/5/14 you! Education Coordinator met with Supervisor to discuss the following concerns: + special education due process timelines + setting up due process meetings with required team members + creation and content of IEP meeting agendas, the purpose of the (PWN) Prior Written Notice + determination/documentation of needed accommodations and how they are used by students + data collection systems + determination of when it is appropriate to recommend discontinuation of special education service + determination of course content in the area of math + creation of math syllabi + differentiation of instruction in math * informing students of accommodations available to them based on their IEP in math + the process of transitioning students from one math class to the next math class + collaboration with general and special education colleagues who teach math CAUSE FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities Component 4b: Maintaining Accurate Records Your system for maintaining timelines for required due process paperwork continues is ineffective, Following our meeting on 2/19/14 and a review due dates the timelines below were not met. + L.MeM.: The IEP was due 2/7/14 and you got it to the child study secretary on 2/18/14. This resulted in the PWN being late, + D.S. The IEP was due on 2/14/14 and you got it to the child study secretary on 2/18/14. This resulted in the PWN being late. + AL: The IEP was due 3/4/14, as of 2/19/14 the meeting had not been scheduled. Clearly the timelines ‘were not met which gave the IEP team less than the 14 calendar days allowed to write the IEP and the parents digznot have the required 14 calendar days to review the document. + LMM. .: gave the completed report to the child study secretary on the date it was due to the parent resulted in the report being late. a /ou completed the academic testing for this student and the child study secretary received it fromou, te day the document was due to the parents, This resulted in the report being late. ‘The Peer Leader and you had a system in place in which there was weekly contact each Monday. You would provide an update of meeting dates and timelines. If the Peer Leader didn’t hear from you then she would generate tn e-mail requesting the update. In December the two of you decided to discontinue the weekly email contact with the intended outcome of you becoming more independent, By the end of January you missed the due dates on four documents, You are unable to meet deadlines without regular and ongoing contact with a Peer Leader.{Component 4e: Communicating with families, Information about the instructional program G/ You provide little information about specific student needs and the skills to be learned including the pre-requisite skills to achieve the goal. You not provide data outlining each student’s progress on their individual goals and objectives. 7 a Component 4e: Growing and developing professionally, Enhancement of content knowledge and /, Pedagogical sti ‘You have been an employee in the District for 15 years and have attended one professional development activity that addressed keeping data. You stated that the professional activity was geared towards staff working with elementary aged students. You failed to take the information and apply it to your practice as a secondary special education teacher. The District focus has been on professional learning communities and looking at student achievement data in order to improve teaching, learning, and outcomes for students. You have not attended or Sought out aditional traning for data collection at the secondary level Stepp UEyet Y Domain 1: Planning and Preparation Component 1a: Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy, Knowledge of content-related pedagogy Determination/documentation of needed accommodations and how they are used by students ‘When considering discontinuing a student from special education services you look at: grades, if they come up to have tests read, if they don’t use accommodations listed on their IEP, if they have other supports in place and they've shown that they can make progress in the general education curriculum. You report that you have two students on indirect IEPs that are due for re-evaluation next school year. You reported that you would bring them up for discontinuation of special education services even though each has been on an indirect IEP for a year or more. You fail to understand the.necessary steps and components of evalu ( special education services. informing students of accommodations available to them based on their IEP in math ‘ou reported that it is a given in your math class that the students can use their notes for quizzes and tests. (The notes are placed on the math server by the general education math teachers, you print them out and the students don’t have to write it all down. They can fill in the blanks and it is less writing.) You stated that this is an ‘accommodation on the IEP for many of the students and many of them choose not to use their notes. You said that it is a need for some of the students in their other classes. Heidi you indicated that most of the students in your algebra class are not on your caseload. This creates confusion for the students, in that you automatically provide accommodations in your classes whether they are listed on the IEP or not. You fail to provide the student’s individual adaptations in class and instead lower expectations for all students, ius 1b: Demonstrating Knowledge of Students, Knowledge of students’ special needs Ye 1b: Demonstrating Knowledge of Students, Knowledge of students’ skills, knowledge, and language proficiency ‘The process of transitioning students from one math class to the next math class ‘You stated that i’s a given that your class will not get as far as students in the general education class. You stated that your students either move on to Geometry Essentials or they will stay with you if they didn’t get Algebra 1 the first time, That way those students that repeat Algebra 1 might get further through. You indicated that in Algebra 2 they will pick up where you left off or they start with Algebra 2 and the teacher knows they have to pick up ‘material you didn’t get through in Algebra 1. ‘You said the kids are in special education for a reason, ‘They aren’t at the same level as their general education peers. You said you can’t cover the same amount of material, ‘You report that you do the best you can and you hope the same for the students. You stated that some of the students will take the MCA modified math test. You (said in the past the MCA modified was an option, it’s not been as many questions, fewer choices, so you try to getthe students as close as you can to general education, but you know you aren't able to get them all the way, especially when students exhibit behaviors. You indicated that you make the decision to have a student repeat Algebra I or move on to Geometry by how they have done, whether they have grasped the concepts, “do they get it”. You talk with case managers or other math teachers when making your recommendations and you also look at the ‘numbers? for students in the classes. ‘Your expectations for the special education students in your math classes are predetermined and lower than the expectations of general education students. Domain 2: The Classroom Environment Component 2b: Establishing a Culture for Learning, Importance of the conten // Determination of course content in the area of math ae 7 You stated you use general education teacher notes from the general education algebra class and you get through the materials you can, You stated you go at the pace of what the students can work through and what they can understand. You said that all of the notes and sections of the content are aligned with certain state standards, and this is done by the general education teachers for you. You said you don’t have to do a lot of thinking as far as that goes, You said you do use a lot of the quizzes and tests made by the general education teachers and you're able to take out some questions. You stated that you don’t necessarily use the students’ performance on homework to measure a student's success; you do more by whether or not they complete the work You said the class goes through the homework so the students are able to see if they are able to understand @ standard or not, and when you go through it the next day in class, or review the notes they see the standard again. You stated other than the tests or quizzes; you don’t do any other assessing. You reported that at the beginning of the trimester you would tell the students that you are starting with, for example, chapter 4 and then see how far the class can get. You stated you'll go on to chapter 5, chapter 6 and see how fer the class can get in these chapters. Heidi you said that Special Education Math Trainer's direction is to teach what they are doing in general education, Use the same textbooks and make it work for the students in your classes. ‘You fail to collaborate with your math colleagues to determine key standards, essential learnings and individualized student needs, You stated you differentiate instruction in three ways; (1) you slow down the instruction, (2) the class looks at ‘multiple ways at solving equations or multiple ways to approach a problem and (3) you use a different grading scale than what they have in general education. The grading scale you use is more based on homework than test scores. You stated that you use the general education teacher notes, which you print off for the students. You report that your students can’t go through the course content as quickly as those in general education, You make sure the class repeats the instruction and does more practice with it. You try to make sure the students get through the same material at a slower pace, with more practice and more repetition. You reported that it’s a given that your class ‘won't get as far as they do in the general education, \m do not understand what it means to differentiate instruction. Domain 3: Instruction Component 3a: Communicating with Students, Expectations for learning Creation of math syllabi You reported you do not have a syllabus for Algebra 1 Essentials. You stated that on an individual day there arelearning targets on the general education teacher notes from the general education algebra class. You reported that you tell the students daily what they will be doing in class. ‘You do not have a syllabus for Algebra 1 Essentials, Instead you use the learning targets on the general education teacher notes from the general education algebra class. Earlier you stated these are unrealistic expectations for your students to meet the targets in a timely manner or at all. You fail to provide a syllabus and realistic learning. outcomes for your students in Algebra 1 Essentials Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities Component 4b: Maintaining Accurate Records, Student progress in learning Data collection systems ‘You developed a recordkeeping system to maintain information on student progress following the 3/12/14 meeting with your Peer Leader, Anne Liebeck and Paula Krippner. Prior to that you stated that you had no system in place to collect data or track student progress. You do not a have a consistent record keeping system to document if students are learning and mastering essential outcomes. Syv\v\ ne — See ‘The purpose of the (PWN) Prior Written Notice You provide little to no evidence of the reason behind continuing or discontinuing special education service for each student’s goals on the IEP. You stated that when a student’s assessment comes up and they've been on indirect for a year or more, you bring them up for discontinuation, You indicated the data you use to determine that a student is ready to be discontinued is (1) grades, (2) if the student rarely has a test read to them, (3) if they are not using their accommodations or (4) if they have other services such as AVID already in place. You do not address the goals on the IEP during the IEP meeting. You are unable to provide evidence (data) as to why students should continue or be discontinued from special education service. You do not address specific information about goals and objectives in the PWN. Detetmination/documentation of needed accommodations and how they are used by students, ‘You currently have no system in place to document which accommodations students are accessing and the frequency in which they use them. You said you can just mark or keep track of whether they have taken a test with you and there is atest ticket that is available and you'll keep track of that. You do not have a consistent record keeping system to document if students are using accommodations on their TEPs and with what frequency they are using them, Component 4e: Communicating with families, Information about the instructional program Creation and content of IEP meeting agendas ‘During the IEP meetings you have conversations with parents about how their child is doing in school and will discuss other unrelated topics. You do not consistently address progress on the current goals and objectives or future goals and objectives unless prompted or specifically brought up by the Administrator at the IEP meeting, You provide little information about specific student needs and the skills to be leamed including the pre-requisite skills to achieve individual goal. You inconsistently provide data outlining each student's progress on their individual goals and objectives. After reviewing the PWN for D.P. you indicated that you did not address the student’s goal/objectives at the IEP meeting. You said that this particular meeting was held prior to you being ‘made aware of the necessity to do this. You have been a special education teacher for 15 years in ISD 196. The fact 5that you do not know you need to collect data on student goals and objectives and discuss the student's progress at the IEP meeting cleariy demonstrates a significant deficiency. You fail to provide the needed information about specific student needs and individual skills that need to be mastered in order for students o achieve their IEP goals and objectives. You do not present data at IEP meetings that show whether or not students have mastered skills to meet individual goals and objectives. Scheduling IEP meetings In January 2014 an IEP meeting needed to be rescheduled due to school cancellation. You did not re-schedule immediately and quickly fell behind which resulted in you missing required timelines for special education procedures and paperwork. ‘You fail to meet requited special education due process timelines. You have been a special education teacher for 15 years in ISD 196. You have been on intensive assistance since October 2010, You are a veteran teacher who significant deficiency, (i received intensive assistance to correct this deficiency. Four years later you continue to demonstrate a poe and to find one ares 4d: Participating in a Professional Community, Relationships with colleagues Collaboration with general and special education colleagues for math You stated that you use the general education teacher notes from the regular algebra class and you get through the ‘materials you can. You reported that it’s mostly just you doing the content for the special education Algebra 1 Essentials class. You stated that you co-taught in an Algebra I class for years in the general education setting and know what was taught in the general education setting. You indicated that you are the only special education teacher that teaches Algebra | Essentials. You stated that four other special education teachers are each teaching other math classes and that you collaborate with them to try to come up with one common assessment to cover all in which to assess. ( You fail to regularly collaborate with your general education and special education colleagues who provide instruction in Algebra, You fail to determine how to intervene most effectively with the students who are struggling the most. Component 4e: Growing and developing professionally, Enhancement of content knowledge and pedagogical skill Growth in profession development surrounding data collection systems ‘You report attending one training about data collection in 18 years of teaching. The one training you report attending was in ISD 196 and you reported it was geared towards elementary grade levels, You stated you could not draw much from the training, it was long ago, and you don't remember it. You fail to regularly parti ‘education teacher. te in staff development that is available and relevant to your position as special Component 4f: Showing Professionalism, Compliance with school and district regulations Special Education due process timelines AAs stated in 4b you are not in compliance with due process timelines based on Special Education Law. During the 2013-14 school year you were late with the following: two IEPs, scheduling an IEP meeting, two PWNs, one re- evaluation, and one academic portion of a re-evaluation, ‘You fail to meet required special education due process timelines. You are a veteran teacher who has received intensive assistance to correct this deficiency. Four years later you continue to demonstrate a deficiency, Setting up due process meetings with required team members and providing advance notice of the meeting dates( ‘You are not in compliance with due process timelines for scheduling IEP team meetings with families/guardians and providing advance notice to the required team members. During the 2013-14 school year you were late in scheduling an IEP meeting, which resulted in the IEP team members, writing the IEP immediately and the parents. did not have the required 14 calendar days to review the document. On 1/22/14 the D.S. IEP meeting notice went out on e-mail to school staff for the meeting that was scheduled for 1/23/14. ) You fail to meet required special education due process timelines. You are a veteran teacher who has received ‘intensive assistance to correct this deficiency. Four years later you continue to demonstrate a deficiency. Creation and content of JEP meeting agendas ‘You do not comply with the presentation information to be reviewed and discussed at IEP meetings. The agenda is in place and appropriate items are listed on the agenda yet the content of the IEP meetings lack data on the students’ progress towards achieving their goals and objectives You present and agenda and do not follow it. You have been a special education teacher for 15 years in ISD 196. ‘The fact that you do not know you need to follow an agenda clearly demonstrates a significant deficiency. Component 4f: Showing Professionalism, Service to students Determination/documentation of needed accommodations and how they are used by students, ‘You fail to determine needed accommodations for individual students. You indicated that you talk with the students to see what they have used and what works for them. You look to see how they have done in classes, if they are bombing tests the student should maybe have the test read to them. If reading is one of their needs they should have the test read to them. If math is an area where they struggle you'll talk with them about using a calculator on tests. You stated if'a student’s assessment indicates processing speed it would indicate the need for having extra time to take their tests. ‘You fail to use the IEP team process to determine the most appropriate accommodations for a student based on their _ individual needs identified in the evaluation report. Component 4f: Showing Professionalism, Decision Making ‘Support needed in order to perform expected duties of a special education teacher You report that you have learned that you need more time up front as a result of being on intensive assistance. You report that you've learned to use your own master calendar to stay organized. You reported that you still have a little work to do yet. ‘You and the Peer Leader had a system in place in which there was weekly contact each Monday. You would provide an update of meeting dates and timelines. If the Peer Leader didn’t hear from you then she would generate an e-mail requesting the update. In December the two of you decided to do away with the weekly contact with the outcome of you becoming more independent in maintaining the required timelines. By the end of January you missed the due dates on six documents. At the 2/19/14 meeting we addressed our concem about your abi meet the timelines without the additional supports of the weekly contact with the Peer Leader and our monthly meetings. |) "You are unabte to do your job without the assistance ofa Peer Leader to hold you to @ professional standard in best, (aes ‘and complete your special education due process paperwork on time. CORRECTIVE ACTION ‘You are hereby directed as follows: 1. You are directed to meet all required timelines for completion of IEP paperwork10, ul 12. 13, 4. 15. 16. ‘You are directed to meet all required timelines for completion of initial and re-evalu ‘You are directed to gather and document data relevant to the IEP goals and objectives. You are directed to develop a data collection system, meet with colleagues to review successful systems they are using and meet with a staff member knowledgeable about data collection systems. You are directed to present the data from the goals/objectives and adaptations section of the IEP to parents at all IEP meetings. When considering the proposal of an in-direct IEP. You will discuss discontinuation of special education services based on your data and propose a re-evaluation even if it is not in the year of the student's three-year re-evaluation. You will invite the Assistant Administrator or Special Education Coordinator. One must be present at each IEP meeting. ‘You are directed to determine each student’s needed accommodations and identify with students how and when to use them, You are directed to expand your list of accommodations. You are directed to create criteria for successful completion of Algebra | Essentials. You are directed to establish a culture for leaming in your classrooms. ‘You are directed to create a syllabus for Tril, Tri 2, and Tri 3 of Algebra 1 Essentials. You are directed to provide instruction that engages the students in the learning in your classroom based on their individual strengths, interests, and abilities You are directed to implement your data collection system, bring data regarding each student's goals/objectives and use of adaptations to each IEP meeting and discuss these with the IEP team in attendance at each meeting. You are directed to include a summary of the data reviewed at the IEP meeting in the PWN to support the proposal of continuation or discontinuation of special education services. You are directed to use the data to develop new goals and objectives for IEPs with direct special education minutes. You are directed to use the district IEP meeting agenda template at every IEP meeting. The agenda will be specific to each individual student on your caseload, You are directed to contact all IEP team members no less than two weeks prior to your anticipated IEP meeting date. All member of the IEP team must have 14 calendar days to prepare for the meeting, You are directed to attend one general education math learning team meeting and one special education learning team meeting each month, You are you directed to incorporate your learnings from these meetings into the instruction in your Algebra 1 Essentials classrooms. . You are directed to attend professional development in the area of using data in the classroom. You ate directed to incorporate your learnings from the staff development into your daily practice.18, You are directed to complete each PWN for each IEP and re-evaluation within the required timelines. 19. You are directed to review the adaptations section of the IEP with each student on your caseload. You and the student will develop a plan on how and when to implement the use of each adaptation listed 20. You are directed develop a system to meet required timelines that you can independently implement successfully 21. You are directed to actively participate in an intensive assistance plan. DISCIPLINARY ACTION ‘This Letter of Deficiency constitutes a formal written reprimand in this matter and will become part of your personnel file in District 196. ‘Your failure to comply with the corrective action contained in this letter, ora reoccurrence of similar conduct in the future, will result in further disciplinary action up to and including the possibility of termination from the School District. 1 also caution you that you may not engage in any retaliation toward staff members or others who participated in this investigation. Any retaliation by you will constitute grounds for disciplinary action. If you have questions or concems regarding this matter, please contact me. I will be more than happy to answer your questions or provide you with assistance regarding the requirements of this letter. Sincerely, Anne Liebeck Paula Krippner Assistant Administrator Special Education Coordinator cc;